Depot #8 by Riverbank Railways (fictional 1980s / early 1990s depot)

[John-r]

That's some fantastic weathering Adrian, really top notch, I think the side by side shot of the clean and weathered locos really does justice to your work.

Very well done

Cheers John.

[Adrian]

Hey all, time for an update and the various projects going on at the moment I like being able to move from one to the next and keep different types of projects on the go, keeps it interesting

Concrete Industrial Yard

First up is the open space between the depot and the scenery. I don't want to make this area too busy with buildings and quite like the idea of having a sort of open yard / waste ground area to tie in the depot with the scenic backdrop, which has a carp park / open area. So I got out the DAS clay and started laying it down relatively smoothly but with some relief / some texture and broken up / ragged areas near the ballast. I think this will work well when I add ballast / ground cover / grass and blend in the rough concrete

 

 

This is a good shot to show the roughness, hopefully this will mimic old, worn down concrete like you'd find in an infrequently-used part of an industrial park.

 

Cutting some cracks and potholes into the hardened DAS clay.

 

The long grooves are for adding walls later on after painting.

 

Spray painted with about 4 or 5 coats of my custom concrete mix If you're interested it's Humbrol Matt 27:28:121:34 in the approx ratio 2:6:6:4 and thinned 1:1

 

Next job to do is to use the dabbing technique to add dark and then light patches to this base, then some black wash to blend it together.

 

Figure Painting

Bought a bunch of ModelU figures for the yard and have started painting them with acrylics washes. I saw a very effective technique for this on Bunter's Yard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biJWFlohnXw&list=LL&index=16. You spray the figures matt back all over, then spray matt white only from above mimicking where light comes from. This forms a base so that when you start adding thin colour washes, the dark and light will bring up the shadows through the colour.

Here's the result of that first step:

 

Then using various thin washes in shades of pink / brown for the flesh...

 

And various thin washes of colour for the clothing, here's an example of a finished figure, very happy with this result

 

Hills & Scenery

Next up is hills and scenery, I haven't done a whole lot on this yet as I need the tunnel in place before I can sculpt, shape and fix the scenery in place. But the plan was done using paper and then the rough shape of the hills (using foam insulation) has been cut out and glued. More to come on this.

 

The Tunnel

Now this is an awkward beast! The tunnel will transition the main depot area with the hills and scenery section. Due to the limited space though, the track is right at the edge of the base board and the angles are very strange. The back section of the tunnel will also drop down to a support underneath the baseboard frame, so it can be set about 20mm back from the track and give the loco enough clearance. 

 

Starting to cut out the basic shapes and glue them together. I'm using combinations of 3, 6 and 9mm MDF.

 

Basic frame is complete, here you can start to see the weird angles needed.

 

With the frame complete, I've started adding the brickwork. This is embossed card with punched out texture which works really well. Got it on Etsy from Greece: https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/1063916581/new-16-sheets-wall-00-176-scale-wall?ref=yr_purchases One thing is that we don't have a lot of red brick in Ireland, but the card takes weathering powder very well, so I'll be weathering this to match the grey / black colour we usually have in our bridge tunnels.

 

Foreground Wall

While doing the tunnel I also started adding a wall to the foreground. I saw this done on a layout somewhere and it worked really well when taking photos - instead of seeing the layout run to a baseboard edge, you were almost peeking over the wall to the railway beyond. Adding some bushes and shrubs in front of the wall should add to the illusion I think  I'll be adding capstones soon as well.

 

More updates coming soon!

 

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Looking good, fine progress, love the paint job on the figures.

[Flying Snail]

Wow - two big projects on the go at the same time, and progress on both looking so good. I'm intrigued to see how the wall in the foreground works out - its an interesting idea!!

[Adrian]

On 23/10/2023 at 9:53 AM, Flying Snail said:

I'm intrigued to see how the wall in the foreground works out

Thank you both - me too!

Edited October 30, 2023 by Adrian

[DJ Dangerous]

Saw an update on YouTube a few weeks ago, feels like a perfect time to share:

 

 

[LNERW1]

On 14/12/2021 at 3:07 AM, Adrian said:

Yep, maybe so, the 071 just does it for me cos it’s the one I remember most from being a kid and getting the train in the 90s (born in 1980 in Carlow so didn’t see too many A classes) - for me that’s “the” train sound  and gives me goosebumps 

I grew up with 8100s and 071s still give me goosebumps- but that’s probably because they sound brilliant . Gotta love a proper American engine. I haven’t heard any English Electric engines thrash in person yet though so maybe I could be swayed.

[Adrian]

Time for what's turning about to be the annual update I love this site because it's like a blog for documenting the progress of your layout from start to finish  Anyway, lots to get through so grab a cuppa and get comfortable!

1. ModelU Figure Painting

I continued the figure painting but haven't completed a huge amount of them. Honestly I concentrated on the drivers so that when taking apart the locos for weathering I could add them in and not have to open the locos again. I found the 121s very tricky to get in at the cab and needed to amputate some arms to make them fit  The figures are painted with multiple washes of colour instead of neat paint to allow the black and white highlights to shine through and pick up the colour.

 

These are the three finished drivers that I concentrated on for locos.

 

2. Loco Weathering

This is turning into one of my favourite parts of the hobby. I love taking a new model and giving it personality and history. I tend to avoid spraying as you can very easily make a mistake or going too heavy (which I did on a practice shell from ebay). I do use a quick spray of grime using the airbrush along the bottom edge of the loco when the shell is off, as well as on the bogies and under frame. But mostly I like to use weathering powders to build up layers of weathering, with coats of matt varnish to lock in layers when I'm happy with them. The main advantage being that if you make a mistake or are not happy with the result, it's very easy to remove the powder and start again, something else which I have done. Also, before starting, make sure and wipe the body shell clean with a dry soft cloth, as the weathering powders act as magnets to any finger prints. It's also good to have some form of rotating painting stand to hold the loco body shell (the Tamiya one is good).

I draw inspiration from real life photos and spent a painstaking few hours building up a collection of photos of as many classes and loco numbers as I could find, to refer back to. And before the weathering powders come out, I usually draw out the detail in the loco shell by applying dilute washes of black enamel.

A Class

 

I love the dirt streaking effect apparent in this photo.

 

Spent some time painting, attaching and weathering the buffer detail on one end.

 

The roof was the hardest part and took a few attempts.

 

Class 121

Comparison shot to show the full effect of weathering.

 

The buffer detail is really good on the 121s given the size of the end of the cab end.

 

If you squint you can see the driver, I amputated his arm but left it in there with him

 

Class 141

Comparison shot. The weathering for this loco was based on some very dirty 141s from the eighties, I'll do some other locos with lighter weathering but was very happy with this one.

 

3. The Tunnel

I completed the tunnel linking the depot area to the scenic break. At the last update I had completed most of the tunnel build, what was left to do was the weathering, lighting and fitting into the layout, which led to some interesting challenges...

 

With the construction complete I started weathering the tunnel, adding streaks where rain would bring down dirt from the capstones and also adding some heavy grime over the centre of the opening, where steam trains would have dirtied it back in the day.

 

This is the back wall, the extended mdf insert is needed to reach down below the baseboard to a support I added (more on this below)

 

The roof of the tunnel, will be seldom (if ever) seen but at least I know it's done. Plus if I ever send a mini camera through there it will look good. And it was good weathering practice for concrete.

 

Attaching LEDs, the cables will be unseen but even so are pretty realistic, the light is a dim yellow / orange achieved by adding a high resistor value to the cabling and also painting the LEDs with a couple of coats of Tamiya clear orange.

 

So now the tricky bit, because of space limitations and the required curve in the track, it had to go right to the edge of the baseboard. This caused a problem with the tunnel wall because the locos would catch it going around the curve if it were flush against the baseboard. So I had to add a support underneath the baseboard (hence the long back wall above) and then some roof insulation covered with putty to act as the "ground" for adding ballast inside the tunnel. It was awkward and messy, but it worked out

 

This was also tricky. The brick wall of the tunnel is not plasticard, it's paper. So if I put the tunnel down first and then ballasted using PVA, it would soak up through the paper and destroy the wall. At the same time I couldn't ballast everything and then place the tunnel as it would sit on top of the ballast. So I had to mark off the shape of the tunnel footprint, tape it with masking tape and support and then ballast inside that shape. All while leaning over the back of the baseboard, which gave me a good workout!

 

But it worked out, the tunnel fit back in snugly enough with some touch ups and the few minor gaps were plugged with a small bit of ballast and neat glue, which didn't soak up through the walls.

 

With the ballast set, I was able to take the tunnel back up and weather the track and ballast.

 

And the end result...

 

4. Industrial Car Park, Wall & Railing

So when we last left this the concrete for the industrial area had just gone in and had been sprayed with my normal concrete colour. The front wall had also been built but was without capstones. First job was to create capstones for the wall and pillars. These were made from thin strips of 3mm mdf, which were sanded on both sides of one side to give a raised "point" in the middle. Gaps between the capstones were then scored to give the illusion of separate pieces of stone. They were then sprayed with a whitish grey colour and glued to the existing walls.

 

Test fitting a pillar, not a lot of fun working with mdf of this size, I can tell you

 

After the capstones went on the wall was weathered with weathering powders to tone it down and give it some rain / dirt streaks, specifically on the inside closer to the points where locos would be ticking over.

 

For the concrete industrial area, after the base concrete coat colour went on, it was time to start dabbing it with light and dark grey washes to break up the colour.

 

A thick black wash was added to the cracks to bring out the detail and some green weathering powder was used to add algae / lichen growth where it will start to meet the ballast and muck.

 

Some darker weathering was added to blend in the dabs of colour from the washes and represent more travelled areas of the concrete.

 

I was pretty happy at this point and it was going well. However I picked up some textured paint made by AMMO by Mig at a model shop and was very impressed with the results on some test pieces. I bought a jar of the Mud and one of Asphalt the results were excellent. When I mixed the asphalt with some fine ballast it gave a texture much closer to tarmac than I has achieved with the DAS clay. At the moment I had concrete, however a more realistic industrial scene in Ireland would have been something closer to tarmac, with a darker, fine rough surface. 

So I took the plunge and started experimenting with different grades of ballast and textured paint to add a new surface.

 

This first photo shows the mud texture effect where the concrete will meet the ballast.

 

I started experimenting with mixing the textured paint with my own colors to lighten the pure black colour it came in. Adding some acrylic grey and white did the trick, giving a dark grey colour which was not black. 

 

The first job was to glue down some fine ballast over the existing concrete.

 

This looked good but was too rough. Tarmac wouldn't have this rough a surface.

 

The solution was to layer on some baby powder, which would raise the surface of the tarmac to match the ballast in certain areas, making it appear smooth, while also leaving some rough patches, as you would get with old, broken tarmac. In this photo the PVA has been added to glue everything down.

 

The finished effect, well worth the gamble, It came out much better than previously, with this small patch complete it was on to the larger tarmac area.

 

Took some guts to cover up what I had previously thought looked good!

 

Spraying with IPA (middle section) and starting to glue (right side). There is a line of blu tack in the middle to cover the grooves cut for the walls.

 

After the ballast had dried, I added the baby powder and pressed / rubbed it down with fingers, leaving some areas rough.

 

With the baby powder dry, some of the acrylic textured paint mix was painted on in random areas. I painted a few patches then added some white or black to the mix to change the colour before painting the next few random spots.

 

The result gave a patchy look to the tarmac which was perfect. Some spots ended up being painted in a kind of squarish pattern, which actually worked nicely as you see patches of repaired tarmac of slightly different colour in real life.

 

End result...

 

Gluing the walls in place.

 

Finished product, was delighted with this result

 

Now to add some moss growth in certain sheltered areas using green weathering powders.

 

Some of these green patches look a little large, but will be covered by ground cover and moss / grass tufts.

 

Adding ground cover where the tarmac meets the vegetation.

 

Next job for the tarmac was to add some post and rail fencing to protect the carpark from the railway. This is a Scale Model Scenery kit. I was going for the speckled look you see on concrete posts. First job was to give them a base cost of concrete grey mix.

 

I then speckled them with white and black paint, flicked from a toothbrush.

 

And toned down the effect using black and grey weathering powder.

 

Added some ground cover, then drilled 1.5mm hold for the posts, before threading through and gluing the provided wire.

 

The surface is uneven so some posts will stick up a little, these will be covered over by grass and weed tufts.

 

5. Embankment and Scenery

With the tunnel now in place I could continue with adding the scenery (which covers the top of the tunnel). I had started this over a year ago and had to take a break to complete the tunnel first, so I was eager to get going on it. 

As with everything, the first task was to practice off-layout in order to figure out the best technique and combination of grasses to give the look I'm going for. The look being the long green / yellowy grass with clumps of bushes and vegetation that you see alongside most Irish track running through the countryside. So grabbing some spare pieces of mdf, I created a grid and got testing, building up layers of static grass to see what would work and then adding the various vegetation types I have. The key is experimentation and when it's on a scrap piece of wood, you'll take risks and try out things that you wouldn't on your layout

 

Starting to get there with this one...

 

The finished product, exactly what I'm going for.

 

Just to show you what I mean when I say practicing, it was well worth it. I found that the absolute key to doing good static grass was to touch the clip of the static grass application to the baseboard, not to shake too much, and to let the applicator hover over the grass for a couple of seconds after applying (especially for longer 4-12mm grass). It encourages the grass to stand upright for the few seconds it takes the glue to go off. 

Also, WWS make a good Basing Glue and Layering Spray, but you can also replicate this with neat Matt Modge Podge and Spray Mount from your local hobby shop, which are much easier and cheaper to get in Ireland. 

 

And so it begins  This is standard roof insulation board from the local hardware. Cheap and easy to shape with a steak knife.

 

Starting to shape the overall contours, no need to get too exact at this stage as the Sculptamold step (below) will manage that. Just need to give it some rough shape and break the right angles of the insulation board.

 

Glued down with standard Gorilla Glue.

 

Adding Woodland Scenics plaster bandage (very useful and easy to apply, would recommend).

 

After drying we have a nice hard shell.

 

Adding Sculptamold, again I highly recommend this, it give a great textured finish to the surface and you can really affect the final shape as well as blend it seamlessly into the baseboard.

 

Notice the lumpy texture at the end of the embankment in the lower right of this photo. This was actually a mistake that worked out. The Scuptamold had started to harden and get lumpy by the time I got to this point. But...the lumps in the mold actually gave a fantastic lumpy texture to the final result

 

Painting the ground colour, as you can see I just grabbed some small sample brown colours from Woodies for a few euro each. 

 

Notice the texture resulting from the lumpy Scultamold in this shot. Where the embankment meets the baseboard, I painted with some of the textured mud paint, mixed with some of the brown paint to continue the uneven surface to the ballast. This will give good texture and colour for any gaps in ground cover and static grass later on.

 

More mud texture for the waste ground between the depot and the embankment.

 

Starting the ground cover. As always, mix and match various shades and colours to randomise the colour as much as possible. I'm using fine turf, soil and earth blend. Paint the surface with PVA, scatter the ground cover and then spray with IPA to draw the glue up from the surface. 

 

While doing this, I also started adding ground cover to other parts of the layout, specific thinking about dips in the ballast, around the walls, around trackside accessories and anywhere where there may be a bit of shelter for moss / lichen to take hold. Some of these areas will then be covered by grass tufts and bushes later on.

 

After the ground cover comes tufts of grass. I highly, highly recommend making your own. Better results and way cheaper. WWS do a specific tuft glue which works really well. Grab a sheet of baking paper, attach your static grass electrode and you can quickly make hundreds of grass tufts, vary the size, the color of the grass and the length as you please. After drying, you can peel them off and place on the layout (I usually add a dab of neat PVA / modge podge to ensure they stick). 

 

Again, you're looking for areas which are sheltered and a tuft of grass may grow, be as random as possible.

 

For the embankment, the next step is to start adding the 2mm base layer of grass. I'm using shades of light green, medium green and brown to give variation in the cover.

 

This looks good, and again it was tempting to leave it as is and not screw it up, but I wanted more! So I picked a spot to fully complete to see how the final product would look...

 

Happy with this so I kept going, adding tufts around this end of the layout with the aim of fully completing the scenic work on this side.

 

Make sure and add some trackside detail before adding the grass, as it would likely be overgrown, not sit on top of the grass!

 

After the long grass comes coarse turf, bushes, underbrush, foliage etc. I won't go into too much detail here as the September video on https://www.youtube.com/@riverbankrailways covers the technique in detail (hope you like it).

 

And here's some stylised shots that I love!

 

6. Depot Waste Ground and Security Fencing

This security fencing kit comes from Ten Commandments, the posts are metal and a nylon mesh and fishing line for the overhead wires are provided. The posts were painted similarly to the posts for the industrial ground, with a base concrete coat...

 

...followed by black and white speckling from a toothbrush.

 

The posts were then darkened down and the colours blended using dark grey and black weathering powder.

 

The nylon mesh was cut into strips of the correct length, painted with aluminium / metallic Humbrol and glued to the posts with neat PVA.

 

The posts were blutacked down to hold them in place and pegs and weights were used to keep the mesh taut during gluing.

 

Each section contained about 8 posts, with an overlap left so they could be joined together on the layout.

 

Preparation started on the waste ground with grass tufts randomly added.

 

The tufts were blended together by adding small amount of static grass between them.

 

1.5 mm holes were then drilled into the baseboard and the posts placed, the overlapping mesh sections were glued together. It's important to do this before adding more static grass and bushes, to allow them to grow up around the fencing.

 

Nothing in real life is perfect, and this tiny tear in the mesh will be turned into an animal passage

 

After the posts were dried in place, the fine fishing line provided in the kit was straightened out by hanging in clamps overnight, painted using the metallic paint and (very carefully) threaded through the three tiny holes at the top of each post. A peg was attached to the ends of each wire and weighted down to keep the wires taut, and then neat PVA was dabbed where the wires joined the posts. After drying the ends were trimmed and more grass, bushes and foliages were added. 

Some finer details like an overgrown rusty barrel (see if you can spot it) and some rubbish (from Scale Model Scenery) - although not visible in this photo.

 

Here's the animal passage gap I mentioned, you can also see some ferns, again a nice little touch from Scale Model Scenery.

Et voila!

 

Your Reward!

It's funny. You think you haven't done much over the year until you gather it all up in a post like this. If you've made it this far, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. As a reward for reading this long post, I hope you enjoy these two lovely shots of an 071 and 201 passenger train leaving the depot...must start weathering coaches next

Until next time!
 

 

Edited October 28 by Adrian

[jhb171achill]

The scenic detail on this is absolutely amazing. Superb stuff, and a great guide to how to do it.

[Adrian]

Thanks for the compliment!!

[Adrian]

And for those that prefer to watch a video, the latest update for October just dropped on YouTube